8th Grade Language Arts Curriculum

Reading
NWEA Test
MEAP Test
AdvancEd Assessment
DRP Test
Units:
1..Fiction and Nonfiction
2. Short Stories/Fiction
3. Types of Nonfiction:
Narrative, Expository
& Persuasive
4. Poetry
Themes:
1. Lessons Learned
2. Extraordinary
Occurrences
3. Greed/ Choices
People Make
4. Cause and Effect
5. Meeting Challenges
6. Black History Month
7. Quest for Freedom
8. Coming of Age
Novels:
*Diary of Anne Frank
*The Pigman
Strategies:
*Reading
Comprehension
*Close and Critical
Reading
*Plot Maps
*Author Studies
*Summarization
*Sequencing
*Writing Tracker
*Vocabulary Studies

Writing
MEAP testing
AdvancEd Assessment
*Writing Portfolios
*6+1 Traits of Writing
*Paragraph/Paper
Structure
*Writing Tracker
*Journaling
*Summaries
*Poetry using Figurative
Language
*Personal Narratives
*Point of View response
*Identifying the Main
Idea Summary
*Purpose Evaluation
*Timed Writing Pieces
*Writers Support
Evaluation
*Character Analysis
Response
*Compare and Contrast
Essay
*Cause and Effect
Essay
*I Have a Dream
Speech
*Persuasive Essay
*Problem and Solution
Essay
*Research Project
*Analysis of Conflicting
Information Essay
*Climax and Ironic
Resolution Response
*Newspaper Article
*Realistic Fiction
Narrative

Grammar
Review:
*Simple and compound
sentences
*Direct and indirect
objects
*Prepositional phrases
*Adjectives/Adverbs
(superlative)
*Nouns (all types)
*Pronouns and
antecedents (all types)
*Regular and Irregular
verbs
*Hyphens
*Apostrophes
*Commas in salutation
*Dialogue
*Quotations
marks/Italics for titles
and names
*Periods
*Commas
*Sentences
*Subjects and
Predicates
New Concepts:
*Verbals
*Gerunds
*Participles
*Infinitives
*Active and Passive
Verbs (must teach
Direct and Indirect
Objects first)
*Verbs:
**Indicative
**Imperative
**Interrogative
**Conditional
**Subjunctive mood
*Analogies
*Ellipsis
*Commas
*Dashes/Hyphens